sparrow et al 2011

Question 1

aim of the study

Answer 1

My study for the effects of psychology on one cognitive process
To check whether the internet has become a huge transactive memory store and if people still feel the need to remember info or only how to look for it on google

Question 2

participants

Answer 2

60 undergraduate students
(37 women, 23 men) at Harvard university

Question 3

method

Answer 3

experiment (i guess)

Question 4

procedure

Answer 4

The students were asked to type in 40 statements onto a computer, some facts were supposed to be new knowledge (an ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain) , while other facts were already likely to have been known by the participants, like the disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia)

The experiment used a 2 x 2 independent samples design (two different variables were being manipulated simultaneously)

The participants were presented with the statements on a computer screen,

There were four conditions
-save the info on computer and remember the info yourself
-erase the info on computer but try to remember it yourself
-save the info on computer and you don’t have to remember it
-erase the info on the computer and you don’t have to remember it

Later they were each given a blank piece of paper and in 10 minutes were to recall as many facts as the could

Question 5

findings//the results

Answer 5

• being asked to remember info made no significant difference to ability to recall trivia facts
• significant difference if participant believed that info would e stored in computer (computer save-remember 0.19, not remember 0.22- computer erase - remember 0.29, not remember 0.31)
• participants who believed they would be able to retrieve info from computer made less effort to remember than those who knew

Question 6

conclusion

Answer 6

The ‘Google effect’ i.e. reliance on technology to retain information may lead to ‘digital amnesia’, the state of being overly dependent on electronic sources to store and retrieve information and this may have a negative impact on memory.

Question 7

strengths

Answer 7

-easily replicated

Question 8

weaknesses

Answer 8

-Ecological validity (usually people work way harder to remember information esp if its personal to them and they don’t gaf about ant of this and furthermore its of no use to them)
-Impossible to generalise (the group was not diverse enough and we don’t know how familiar they are with technology)
-The participants could have been already aware of everything